(Phys.org) —Scientists from SLAC and Stanford have used finely tuned X-rays at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) to pin down the source of a mysterious magnetism that appears when two materials are sandwiched ...

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have reported in Nature the first observation of the "spin Hall effect" in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), a cloud of ultracold atoms acting as a single ...

(Phys.org) —This dramatic new image of cosmic clouds in the constellation of Orion reveals what seems to be a fiery ribbon in the sky. This orange glow represents faint light coming from grains of cold interstellar dust, ...

Matter is categorized as either conductive, semi-conductive or resistive to the flow of electrons based on its bulk properties. However, physicists have now predicted a new state of matter in which the bulk of the material ...

(Phys.org) —There has been a lot of talk recently about the possibility of building what has come to be known as a time crystal. In February 2012, Frank Wilczek originally proposed the idea that under certain conditions, ...

(Phys.org) —Superconductors can radically change energy management as we know it, but most are commercially unusable because they only work close to absolute zero. A research group at EPFL has now published an innovative ...

(Phys.org) —The next generation of computers promises far greater power and faster processing speeds than today's silicon-based based machines. These "quantum computers"—so called because they would harness the unique ...

(Phys.org) —Acquired by ESA's Planck space telescope, the most detailed map ever created of the cosmic microwave background – the relic radiation from the Big Bang – was released today revealing the existence of features ...

In a project commissioned by the European Space Agency, researchers at the University of Twente have developed a novel cooling technique for optical detectors on spacecraft. Using this technology, it is possible to detect ...

Absolute zero

Absolute zero is a temperature marked by a 0 entropy configuration. It is the coldest temperature theoretically possible and cannot be reached by artificial or natural means. Temperature is an entropically defined quantity that effectively determines the number of thermodynamically accessible states of a system within an energy range. Absolute zero physically possesses quantum mechanical zero-point energy. Having a limited temperature has several thermodynamic consequences; for example, at absolute zero all molecular motion does not cease but does not have enough energy for transference to other systems, it is therefore correct to say that at 0 kelvin molecular energy is minimal. In addition, any particle with zero energy would violate Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which states that the location and momentum of a particle cannot be known at the same time. A particle at absolute zero would be at rest, so both its position, and momentum (0), would be known simultaneously.

By international agreement, absolute zero is defined as precisely 0 K on the Kelvin scale, which is a thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale, and −273.15° on the Celsius scale. Absolute zero is also precisely equivalent to 0 R on the Rankine scale (same as Kelvin but measured in Fahrenheit intervals), and −459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale. Though it is not theoretically possible to cool any substance to 0 K, scientists have made great advancements in achieving temperatures close to absolute zero, where matter exhibits quantum effects such as superconductivity and superfluidity. For the kinematics of the molecules, on a larger scale, which is easier to understand see kinetic energy.